Dr. Gonzo's Revenge

"He accepted my open wallet with his left hand, and then extended his right for the beer can."

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Saturday, September 13, 2014

THIRTEEN YEARS LATER

September 11, 2014

Normally on this day I might find myself posting routine 9/11 "Truth" pieces, re-posting the 9/11 musings of Hunter S Thompson, and possibly dropping a few 9/11 observations of my own, probably by picking a debate with a random skeptic on a Facebook message board. Of course, neither of us will walk away from that debate even remotely considering the arguments of the other, and there is such an enormous amount of 9/11 "Truth" floating around, my contributions would mainly be regurgitation of work already done a thousand times over. Quite pointless, considering I am merely preaching to the choir, and a small choir at that.

9/11/2001

As we enter the 13th year of the "long, protracted war on terrorism" it feels like a lifetime removed from that crisp early Autumn morning when America was attacked in spectacular fashion on world television. 13 years later, many can look back and visualize the dark clouds which gathered over our society in the weeks and months following the 9/11 event, and some can see the similarities between the new American age of darkness and that shrouding German society in the 1930s, France during the Reign of Terror, or medieval Europe at the height of Catholic Inquisition. 9/11 was an event, much like the shooting of a Serbian Archduke a century ago, which has created a potentially infinite number of repercussions which will continue to play out for years and, perhaps, centuries to come.

Once mobilization began, it could not be stopped

Sitting here in 2014, we can, if we try, begin to see 9/11 through the lens of history. We can also, with little effort, begin to see a multitude of ramifications of the event and U.S. reaction. Not so surprisingly, the beneficiaries of these events are becoming more apparent as well, raising a few questions. The people of the Middle East have gained nothing aside from death, destruction, famine, pain, fear, and the understanding that being accused of attacking the West is not a good position to be in. The Taliban found itself deposed, being replaced instead by CIA friendly Afghan statists (more than a few of whom appear to be Taliban "turncoats") who conveniently do not share their predecessor's aversion to the mass production of opium.

If they didn't hate us before, they do now

On the flip side, international oil corporations as well as entities such as the Saudi family who officially disowned Osama Bin Laden (before he conveniently became the villain who turned the oil tide in their favor) have gained a fortune. Due to twists and turns in the War on Terror, heavily used oil sources have been choked off, leading to near monopolization and obvious price gouging of a resource which, in reality, is readily accessible and literally beneath the feet of a substantial percentage of the world's citizens. The oil magnates and their long list of cronies, henchmen, and back-pocket politicians are hardly the sole beneficiaries of the War on Terror, however.

We all know the police state, real or perceived, has gained tremendous ground in the aftermath of 9/11, both at home and abroad. After a string of terror events worthy of the greatest comic book supervillians, nations such as Russia, Spain, England, France, India, and many others were placed on wartime footing as they launched campaigns against the vague and shadowy groups accused of attacking them. Here in the U.S., many Americans became convinced that not only did the entire Middle East hate us "because of our freedom", but they were all willing and able to take us out in suicide attacks armed with box cutters, wine openers, and mouthwash bottles larger than two ounces. Americans were in a state of extreme confusion. We were told that Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11, but many Americans and old G.W. himself had an unspoken understanding that Saddam indeed had everything to do with 9/11. (In fact, aside from a small yet vocal amount of Left Wing activists protesting in a fashionable manner, many Americans felt a strong sense of glee when, a few years later, we paid Saddam back for 9/11 by dropping bombs on impoverished civilians.) We were fed information about duct tape as anthrax (from an Iowa lab) was on display in Washington. We were bombarded by "what if?" scenarios disguised as investigative journalism which introduced us to the possibilities of dastardly attacks using briefcase nukes, smallpox, dirty bombs, suicide bombings, sniping, doomsday viruses, and other such things against which there was no defense. A shadowy enemy which had no home country, no flag, alleged access to huge piles of money and weapons, a hatred of everybody, and an eagerness to commit suicide while perpetrating great atrocities wielding common household items is a very scary proposition. We knew that dropping bombs on Afghanistan was a good place to start, but we demanded complete protection and our government, for once, responded very promptly and very thoroughly.

The CIA, a rebuilt and upgraded model of Nazi Germany's intelligence organization, as well as the FBI had failed to protect us and, instead of finding out why and weeding out those responsible, it made perfect sense to create more police agencies. Immediately (a little too immediately in my opinion) the very Orwellian sounding Department of Homeland Security was born. This was a good start, but was not nearly enough to keep us safe from smallpox and box cutters. Sooner than later our police departments were funded and militarized, our mail was x-rayed and radiated, the TSA was making sure no one was keistering nail files or moustache trimmers into the airport, DHS checkpoints ensured no outside food or drink was competing with concession vendors at major sporting events, our emails were being read, GPS was being tracked, our phone calls were being monitored, spy planes, helicopters and satellites were hovering over our neighborhoods, and our youth were marching off to war. To further ensure our safety, any person who wanted to terrorize us (as defined by arbitrary military officials) could be kidnapped, detained indefinitely, and sentenced without legal counsel based upon testimony obtained while being strapped to a board and dunked in water.

Nice One Eye symbolism

Whether as a result of mass paranoia driving an over inflated bureaucracy or a more nefarious plan to create an expansive control network eventually to be turned on the American people (see Germany, 1929-1945), a massive police state apparatus was built and continues to grow at an ever expansive rate. Needless to say, profit and power have definitely been byproducts gained by major players in the expansion of the police state, primarily at the expense of the American taxpayer and the unfortunate souls who have been wrongfully water boarded due to lack of legal counsel. Again, as with oil profiteers, the police state movement is hardly the only beneficiary of the attacks on September 11, 2001. The wet dream of any self respecting military contractor is a "long protracted war" in which multiple nations can fight on multiple sides in multiple and ever changing theaters against a phantom enemy who never goes away, but rather changes names and allegiances. The sheer amount of food, weapons, vehicles, fuel, entertainment, medical supplies, ammunition, technology, infrastructure, and everything else needed to maintain a perpetual series of conflict and occupation is staggering. Considering that ammunition, supplies, fuel, vehicles, and soldiers are in constant need of restocking, and considering that vehicles, technology, communications systems, and weaponry are in constant need of upgrade one can safely assume there are very many (and very expensive) moving parts to this modern war machine. Add to that the reminder that the American taxpayer is footing the bill for the entire operation, decreasing the likelihood of any conscious efforts to streamline spending while greatly increasing the amount of hands the money must pass through before reaching its intended destination.

These are only a few examples of beneficiaries of the events of 9/11/2001. Curiously, the beneficiaries are all on "our side". Things didn't work out so well for Saddam, the Taliban, or the millions of Iraqi and Afghan civilians who were assuredly dancing in the streets the minute the Trade Center dropped. Bin Laden himself was allegedly apprehended, executed, and disposed of in the ocean by a crack special forces team who, sadly, all died in a helicopter crash the next month. Others, as we have seen, have fared much better. The several examples mentioned above begin to reveal what a very large pie the War on Terror has turned out to be for those lucky enough to have a plate and fork. There are pieces of the pie not so readily apparent, and eaters of the pie who remain shrouded in darkness. War is Hell, no doubt about it, and the wings of Satan are expanding every day. Although the above mentioned oil companies, politicians, police state officials, and war profiteers could easily be classified as "organized criminals", more classic elements of organized crime quickly find their way into war zones, profiting largely from smuggling everything from food and weapons to drugs and human slaves, which brings me to my main point.